The Way It Is
by JoeMerl
Summary: Ginny is an idealist. Astoria is not. One-shot, set during "Deathly Hallows." Written for the Random Word Prompt Challenge and the Bechdel Test Competition.


**Author's Notes:** Done for a combination of the Random Word Prompt Challenge, where I got the word "fight," and the Bechdel Test Competition, where I was assigned Ginny Weasley and Astoria Greengrass. (The latter was surprisingly difficult; I can imagine interesting conversations between these two, but what connection would they have except through their husbands or sons?) It wound up being pretty short, but hopefully you'll still enjoy!

* * *

Ginny heard a scream as she burst into the corridor, wand already drawn and a dark look on her face.

"_Stop!_"

Sure enough, the scene froze after everyone looked up. Ginny instantly recognized Agnes Monkleigh, a Slytherin girl in her year who had become a fervent devotee to the Carrows, standing over a younger girl who was coughing and shaking on the ground. A gaggle of other students stood nearby, either watching or refusing to watch the scene with equal horror.

Monkleigh recovered after a split second, meeting Ginny's gaze and curling her lip. Ginny followed suit.

"What's going on here?"

"None of your business, Weasley. Now scram before I get Professor Carrow."

"If you mean Alecto, I have it on good authority she'll be in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the night," Ginny said with a grim smirk. "Now _leave._"

Agnes slashed the air with her wand, but Ginny was faster—with a wordless incantation she produced a Stunning Spell that sent the other girl flying back into a wall, where she crumpled on the floor. Several onlookers gasped and cried out, but one quickly came forward to help the injured girl to her feet. She stumbled, then fell, the other girl falling to her knees beside her.

Ginny came over. "Is she okay? What did Monkleigh do to her?"

"I'm not sure. It wasn't a spell I recognized." The other girl's voice was very soft, and up close Ginny recognized her as a Slytherin fifth-year whom she vaguely knew as Astoria Greengrass.

The injured girl was shaking violently. Ginny checked her pulse; it was oddly quick, and her skin was hot all over. "I don't think it was the Cruciatus or...whatever it was, we need to get her to Madam Pomfrey. Can you hear me? Um—do you know her name?"

"Tara."

"Tara, can you hear me? We need to get you to the Hospital Wing. Come on—thanks—"

Ginny didn't think that Tara could make out what she was saying, but together she and Astoria were able to pull her to her feet, supporting her between the two of them. It would probably be safer to carry her than to try to get her to Hospital Wing with magic, and fortunately it wasn't a long walk. The crowd parted as they passed, and when they were a few feet away Ginny could hear them muttering to themselves. She got that a lot these days, along with Luna and Neville. At the moment she didn't have the strength to care whether this group was admiring or reproachful.

"Do you know her?" Ginny asked after a few moments, just to make conversation.

"A little. She's a friend of a friend."

"Any idea what she did to wind Agnes up so much?"

For a moment it didn't seem like Astoria was going to answer. Then she said, "Both of Tara's parents are Muggle-born. They thought it would be better to fake their family trees and send Tara to school than to go into hiding. But everybody who knows Tara knows the truth. It was pretty stupid of them."

Astoria's voice was still quiet and emotionless; her head was bowed down, her eyes on her feet. Ginny spared a glance at her, and suddenly scowled as something caught her eye.

"I didn't know you were a prefect."

Astoria's eyes flickered down to the badge on her robes, then quickly returned to the floor. "Yes," she said simply.

"Well, you could have—_ugh_—" Tara's arm started to slip from Ginny's shoulder, forcing her to hoister her back up. "You could have done something back there yourself. I'm pretty sure prefects are supposed to speak up when people are running or committing torture in the corridors."

"What was I supposed to do? Take away House points?" If Astoria was being sarcastic, her voice was too carefully controlled to convey it. "Agnes doesn't have to answer to anyone anymore; nothing I said would have stopped her from doing anything."

"Well, you could have _tried!_ Instead you just watched your friend—" Ginny grunted, hoisting Tara again "—get cursed right in front of you!"

"If I _had_ tried anything, Agnes would have cursed me too. Would that have helped Tara any? Then you would just have to carry both of us yourself."

Once again Ginny couldn't tell if Astoria was being sarcastic, but she didn't really care; she just scowled, indignant at how blasé she was about watching someone she knew being tortured.

There was a moment of silence before Astoria spoke again. "I'm not a good duelist like you are. Agnes would have destroyed me."

Ginny blinked, taken aback for a moment. "I don't stand up to people like her because I'm a _good duelist._ I do it because it's _right._"

"You didn't beat Agnes because you were right. It wasn't _right_ for Agnes to hurt Tara in the first place, but she still did it. And now Tara's going to be one more 'right' person in the Hospital Wing, while you'll get cursed by one of the Carrows the next time they see you. That's just the way it is."

Ginny was about to respond, but Astoria interrupted. "You're going to make things worse, you know." Ginny blinked. "If you and your friends keep making things harder around here, more Death Eaters will just come to the school...maybe even kill off some of the teachers to make room for themselves."

Ginny was truly irritated by now. "So what's _your_ plan? Just sit around and do nothing?!"

"We do the best we can. Which usually just means helping people like Tara who can't keep out of trouble no matter how hard they try."

For the first time, Astoria's voice cracked. At that moment, they turned a corner and saw the Hospital Wing at the other end of the corridor. Ginny tried to move forward, but Astoria hesitated.

"Is Professor Carrow really in there?"

"If Luna hexed her as bad as she thinks she did. And assuming Madam Pomfrey was bluffing when she said that she would refuse to treat Death Eaters anymore."

"She shoudn't. And they shouldn't put people like Tara in the same place as people like _her._ It's sick."

"Yeah. It is." Ginny shrugged helplessly. "But it's just the way it is, isn't it?"

Astoria looked down at her feet and said nothing as the two carried Tara the rest of the way.


End file.
